Being Business-Savvy Doesn't Mean You'll Be Successful Abroad

Having an international background might look exceptional on your
resume, but just because you're a phenomenal leader in your
own country doesn't guarantee you'll find success as an
international executive.

Rohit Bhargava says in his upcoming book "Likeonomics" that it's one
thing to adhere to business protocol in different cultures, and
an entirely different thing to be able to influence people who
already think of you as an "outsider." And if you don't have the
right personality for a career abroad, things might go downhill
fast. If you fail, you'd end up costing your company a
lot of money.

"Many companies mistakenly select people to go overseas using the
same criteria they would use for domestic positions, instead of
using a systematic approach to find out who will do well in a
certain country and who won't," Michael F. Tucker —
president of HR development companyTucker
International — told Tony
Lee at CareerCast.

If you're being considered for an overseas position, you should
think about the country's valued traits and compare them
with your own. Are they similar or different? If they're
different, are you willing to change, or can you change?

"If you're very entrepreneurial, emerging markets — including
Brazil, the rest of South America, Vietnam, Moscow, China — are
the frontier. You can build a huge reputation as a sharpshooter
and move up quickly," but if you're more risk-averse, "you
may do better in Europe or another established market, where
there are already established procedures and a track record."

In order to influence people who come from different cultures
than you, Bhargava says you have to figure out what
people care about and use that to your advantage in communicating
with them. This means you have to be an effective listener and
demonstrate that you can adapt quickly. For strong trust to be
established, it also doesn't hurt to be open-minded
and tolerant of different opinions.